The Tudor Theatre: 1576-1642

by Nicholas Fogg

224 pages, Hardcover

Expected publication March 30, 2026

Reviews

[Yvonne Strong · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book provides a lot of interesting background for the famous people and plays in the early English theatre. Shakespeare, Marlowe, Burbage, and Jonson are just a few of the many playwrights and actors - the sheer numbers of playwrights, actors (including children but not women), managers, owners, plays, and theatres are quite remarkable, although most of the plays don't seem to have survived. What is even more remarkable is how the theatre itself survived; right from the start it was under attack from in-fighting, lawsuits, the plague, and the Puritans. Nicholas Fogg puts the development of the theatre in the context of society, politics, the aristocracy, and the royal court and shows in a very entertaining way how it survived one crisis after another until it was finally shut down in 1642 by Puritans who had become powerful in Parliament as Charles I gradually lost his grip on the country.

Although the theatre started in the reign of Elizabeth Tudor, approximately half the book deals with its development during the time of the first two Stuart kings and how it was used to satirise and sometimes directly attack powerful people, both English and foreign. This is a fascinating look at a very colourful aspect of a very colourful period of English history.

[Wessy Acrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

History anthologies can often be hard to read, just because there is such a huge amount of information to go over, even books like this that only cover about 66 years. However I enjoyed the flow of this very much.

It’s always a good reminder that those in the arts are often quick witted and hilarious, even way back before Shakespeare.

The only thing I was missing was an explanation each time a play or person was referenced as to why we have no record of the writings or history! It’s amazing to know that there were national tours of plays that we will never know the full detail of!